## Action Class

The `Action` class is the base class for any custom action. To define a custom action, create a subclass of the `Action` class and overwrite the two required methods, `name` and `run`. The action server will call an action according to the return value of its `name` method when it receives a request to run an action.

A skeleton custom action looks like this:

```python
class MyCustomAction(Action):

def name(self) -> Text:

return "action_name"

async def run(
        self, dispatcher, tracker: Tracker, domain: Dict[Text, Any],
    ) -> List[Dict[Text, Any]]:

return []
```

## Methods

### Action.name

Defines the action's name. The name returned by this method is the one used in your bot's domain.

- **Returns**:
  
  Name of action

- **Return type**:
  
  `str`

### Action.run

```python
async Action.run(dispatcher, tracker, domain)
```

The `run` method executes the side effects of the action.

#### Parameters

- **dispatcher** – the dispatcher which is used to send messages back to the user. Use `dispatcher.utter_message()` for complete responses, or the streaming methods `dispatcher.stream_start()`, `dispatcher.stream_chunk()`, and `dispatcher.stream_end()` to emit responses incrementally. See the [documentation for the dispatcher](/content/docs/reference/integrations/action-server/sdk-dispatcher/index.html), including [streaming responses](/content/docs/reference/integrations/action-server/sdk-dispatcher/#streaming-responses/index.html) and [transport support](/content/docs/reference/integrations/action-server/sdk-dispatcher/#supported-transports/index.html).

- **tracker** – the state tracker for the current user. You can access slot values using `tracker.get_slot(slot_name)`, the most recent user message is `tracker.latest_message.text` and any other `rasa_sdk.Tracker` property. See the [documentation for the tracker](/content/docs/reference/integrations/action-server/sdk-tracker/index.html).

- **domain** – the bot's domain

#### Returns

A list of `rasa_sdk.events.Event` instances. See the [documentation for events](/content/docs/reference/integrations/action-server/sdk-events/index.html).

#### Return type

`List`
[`Dict`
[`str`, `Any`
]]

## Example

In a restaurant bot, if the user says “show me a Mexican restaurant”, your bot could execute the action `ActionCheckRestaurants`, which might look like this:

```python
from typing import Text, Dict, Any, List
from rasa_sdk import Action
from rasa_sdk.events import SlotSet

class ActionCheckRestaurants(Action):
   def name(self) -> Text:
      return "action_check_restaurants"

def run(self,
           dispatcher: CollectingDispatcher,
           tracker: Tracker,
           domain: Dict[Text, Any]) -> List[Dict[Text, Any]]:

cuisine = tracker.get_slot('cuisine')
      q = "select * from restaurants where cuisine='{0}' limit 1".format(cuisine)
      result = db.query(q)

return [SlotSet("matches", result if result is not None else [])]
```

This action queries a database to find restaurants matching the requested cuisine, and uses the list of restaurants found to set the value of the `matches` slot.